Human After All
by FrogPuppet
Summary: Lucy was going to end her tragic life, she only wanted to see Kouta one last time. Some how she ended up staying.  LucyxKouta    i like to swear so rated for future chapters.
1. Chapter 1

Lucy was about to quietly open the gate when Wanta started barking.  
She began to regret her choice and made to pull away and leave Kouta's life for ever, not wanting to cause him any more pain.  
She was slowly limping down the stone stairs, when the gate behind her opened; she heard a small gasp and something warm against her back and around her waist.  
The thing was making her shoulder wet.  
Lucy, her head lowered and pink hair covering the upper half of her face looked around at Kouta, not understanding.  
"Nyu, you're back." He said, with far more relief than she expected.

"I'm not Nyu." She said calmly.  
"Lucy?"  
"That is not my name either." She said flatly.  
Kouta's hold on her body released and he gently turned her around to face him.  
She glumly looked him in the eye and muttered; "Its Kaede."  
Kouta just smiled warmly.  
"I'm glad you're home again, Kaede."  
'Lucy' was in turmoil as he gently led her inside.  
She came to say the last good bye to Kouta, apologize for everything she'd done to him.  
She was ready to die after that, she'd thought about it, and accepted that it was her only escape from the guilt, the pain, and the fear.

She didn't expect Kouta to do this.  
He gently led her by the hand up the steps and into the house.  
With the first genuine smile he'd had since she went missing a few weeks ago, Kouta said; "Look who came home!"  
Home. That was something Kaede was certain she didn't have until now.

They all genuinely pleased to see her, even Nana, although cautiously, she was still pleased to see her back at the inn.

"_It's her! What's she doing here!? Wait…it's like Lucy, but not quite Nyu…" _The distinct change in 'Lucy' troubled Nana.  
Mayu was happy they were a family again, she felt the house was somewhat less happy without the constant activity that Nyu provided.  
Yuka looked glad that she had come back in one piece…'Lucy' looked at her indifferently.

Kaede gave a small sad smile to Nana and Mayu, and sat down to eat the weird noodles Nana seemed to be in love with.

Both Kouta and Kaede were experiencing inner storms of emotion; she was infinitely glad she returned to Kouta, yet seeing him ripped her fragile heart, the guilt still stung.

Where as Kouta, was glad that the girl he considered the most precious peron in the universe had returned to him, but he felt horrible for all the things that had happened to her, he heard from a teary Nana about the things they were subjected to at that disgusting place.

Kouta decided when she was missing he was willing to forget about the pain she inflicted when she butchered his father and sister, it was partly his fault in his mind. He promised himself and more to her that he'd never let another bad memory plague her already ravaged and tortured mind.

After the lunch Kouta took Kaede off to get cleaned up.  
He gently lead her into the bathroom, and while it filled up he went to get her some clean clothes.

He came back to find a shocking sight; She was quietly crying, huddled next to the bath.

Kouta closed the door and sat with her; he made small comforting noises and gently stroked her shoulder to comfort her more so.

"Why don't you hate me?" Her voice was eerily calm through her tears.  
"I could never hate you." He had a small smile on but his eyes were pure melancholy.

"But what I did to you…" She didn't understand how he could still give her the love she needed all those years ago, and still did.

"While I _said_ I couldn't forgive you for it, I can't also forgive myself for lying to you."  
She understood, he didn't directly say it, but he didn't hate her in the slightest for how she ruined his young life.  
Her tears came harder. "But I'm a monster…" she sounded so broken and small it hurt Kouta to the core to hear her like this.

"No. You are not a monster. The ones at that facility are monsters, and they tried to turn you into a monster too." She looked and the floor while he turned off the taps.

He gently stood her up and silently undressed her; he wasn't as embarrassed because this wasn't the innocent, naïve Nyu. This wasn't the sadistic Lucy either, both we one again, she was Kaede, the sad girl that Kouta fell in love with all those years ago.

As he gently washed her back, she began to hum their tune, Lilium.

Kouta grinned at the nostalgic song, it sounded sad, but to Kaede it made her remember the happiest days of her life.  
"That reminds me," Kouta began, "You left some stuff here."  
"Mmm?" She tilted her body around to look at him over her shoulder.  
With his arms crossed, he struck a silly thinking pose.  
"Yes! A small blue hat and a little box that plays a tune."  
She was stunned, not only was he willingly giving her the music box they both treasured; he'd also recovered the blue hate she missed all those years.

Kouta thought back to the police questionings in hospital, and the hat they found with his name on the tag at the scene of the massacre at the festival.  
He'd kept it all those years, he could never remember why, or how he got it.  
Until a few weeks ago, when his memory came back.

After her bath (Kouta made sure he got all the dried blood and sea-smells off of her) he took her to her room, but the lonely look she had made him ask her if she wanted to sleep in his room. She nodded silently, so with a grin he picked up her mat and she carried her pillow and linen, he looked over his shoulder at her, and told her the last one to reach his room was a rotten egg. She remembered doing things like that at the Zoo…she smiled for the first time in a long, long time and ran with him.

He set her bed up next to his, and told her to wait for a second.

While he was gone she stared at the small, dark music box that he kept in his room, the one with 'lilium' printed in the small plaque on its front.

She sat on the foot of her mat, she didn't hear Kouta walk up and plop the blue beanie on her head.  
"I guess those horns what be giving you trouble anymore anyway, but the hat looks cute on you still!"  
She slowly took the hat off and looked at it in her hands.

She looked at Kouta, he was looking at her with warm, loving eyes.  
She owed him so much, she took so much from him, yet he still gave her what she wanted more than all the blue beanies in the world,  
Love.

(She didn't mind the baths and food too much either)

With a yawn Kouta announced it was bedtime.

With a faint smile Kaede crawled into her bed too.

With the lights out they laid there in the dark.  
Kaede rolled over to face Kouta, and moved closer to his bed.  
"Kouta?"  
"Mmm?" He sounded utterly content.

She paused a second….

"Do you…love me?" She needed to ask what she wanted to so many years ago.

She heard him roll to face her.  
"Of course." She felt him gently pulling her into his bed; she got the idea and wriggled in with him, amazed at how much warmer his bed was.  
When they were settled in he added "I always did, I had just forgotten how much I did." She heard that 'Kouta-Smile' in his voice.

He felt her adjust closer in to him, clutching to him like her life depended on it.  
He gently kissed her and bade her good night.  
With this Kaede gave into her tremendous fatigue, and slept.

Kouta silently promised her he was going to provide her with a good life from that moment on.

He was glad he didn't have any classes the next day, and that night was the best nights sleep he'd had in a while.

**Yo!  
I went through most of the Elfen Lied fics, and there weren't any to my liking, so I wrote my own!  
I figured Lucy/Nyu/Kaede had gone through enough, so I plan to not have anything too bad happen to her, at least I promise it'll end happy.**


	2. Chapter 2

Kaede awoke and noticed she wasn't in the shack on the beach.  
Then she remembered all of yesterday and realized it was Kouta that she was cuddled up with. She looked at his smiling, peaceful face.  
To her, he was the most beautiful creature alive.

His eyes popped open; he gazed into her dark pink ones.  
With a gentle kiss he said; "Good morning, Kaede-chan."

Kouta noticed she was more or less the same person that she was all those years ago, neither cold and emotionless like Lucy, but not as goofy and loud as Nyu, she was the blend of the two.  
He remembered the shy, sad girl he met, and looked at the shy, sad older girl that he was sharing his bed with.

Kouta decided, even if it was a bit early, he was going to do something very special for her today.

"We're going **WHERE?**" Mayu asked, her eyes huge with joy.  
Nana looked utterly lost. "Kouta? What's a Zoo?"

With a grin, he said: "There's animals there, you'll like it, trust me!"

He looked at Kaede, who stood there in what Kouta had dubbed the 'Lucy-Pose'

Standing with her arms limply by her sides and looking at the ground with her pink hair obscuring most of her face.  
Kouta gently put his hands on her upper arms, and said; "And I know for a fact you'll love it."

With a weak grin she put her beanie on.  
When Kouta gently went to ask Yuka if she had changed her mind, she'd studied so much, he figured she'd do well with a break.

"Yuka?"  
He peeked around the door more, to see Yuka huddled in the corner, looking very small.  
he approached her very gently and sat next to her.  
_"That Lucy Pose seems contagious…" _He thought, even if Yuka's hair was short, it still hid her eyes.

"You…just go to the zoo, Kouta."

Her flatness troubled Kouta.

"Are you sure? Are you alright?"

Not wanting to worry Kouta about her problems with him and Kaede she made up an excuse;  
"You might be finished for the semester, but I'm not, and I feel a little ill so I'm going to take it easy, a day at home." She gave a small smile to try and convince him further, she could hear Nana asking Mayu none too quietly about the Zoo.

"Okay." He told her that he bought painkillers last week, and they were in the bathroom cupboard if she needed them.

The bus ride to the Zoo was eerily like the first one, there was hardly anybody on the bus apart from the group of four.

The zoo hadn't changed at all, much to Kaede's relief; it seemed a piece of those golden days with Kouta was still around.

She and Kouta stood back amused when Nana had more or less the same reaction as she did when she first saw the elephant.

The giraffe; Nana topped the young Kaede's excited yowls and squeals when **she** first saw it.

This made Kaede think that she and Nana weren't so different, that she would be as innocent and 'normal' as Nana, if events had played out differently.

She honestly did think of Nana as her little sister now, she found a strange sense of pride for Nana ignite in her, as well as gentle, tender sense of care for her, not as intense as the dire need for Kouta, but a gentler, more passive love for Nana.  
With a slight smirk she figured this was the 'family' she'd missed out on all her life.

Kouta put his arm around her waist and asked her quietly; "Do you want to try some shaved-ice?" They both couldn't help but grin at the nostalgia.

"Who wants shaved Ice!?"  
Nana and Mayu whirled around in unison:  
"ME!! OOH MEE!!" Mayu did a little dance as she waved her arm around in the air  
"WHATS SHAVED ICE!? IS IT YUM? WHAT IS IT?!" Nana was probably louder…as usual.

They all sat with their shaved ice, Nana making the mistake of wolfing it down (like she did with all food) and making yet another discovery for the day: the ice cream head ache.

"ITAIII!!! KOUTA IT HURTS!"  
With a chuckle he said: "Nana, you need to eat slower! Just rub your tongue on the roof of your mouth and it'll go away faster. Or you can tilt your head to the side."

Nana had a silly look on her face, as she tried both at once.  
With a big Nana-gasp she cried "OH WOW!!! IT'S GONE AWAY!!" With a big smile she thanked Kouta for the advice and began shoveling the shaved ice into her mouth, attempting in vain to fill the bottomless pit stomach and occasionally tilted her head and licked the roof of her mouth.

Mayu just shook her head.  
_"Old habits die hard, huh Nana-chan?"_

Kaede knew the real, grizzly reason why Nana ate so much…

If it weren't for her 'Papa' as she had called him, Kaede assumed Nana would love her food even more.

Possibly to death…

As the afternoon got late they walked down the road for a bit, as the next bus was in a long time.

Walking down the road, Kaede spotted a familiar stream.  
Kouta felt her hand tense, he saw it too.  
"Mayu, Nana, do you mind if we stop for a little rest just over there?"  
Both Nana and Mayu were all for a break.

Kouta and Kaede stood in the stream with their shoes off, having a light laugh about the water fight.

When Kouta looked over to tell the girls it was time to get going or they'd miss the bus, he that the stream must be enchanted or something;  
Nana and Mayu were having a splash fight.

Luckily the dresses they were wearing dried quickly, and they had only splashed a little.   
"Good thing nobody's started pushing…" He said as he walked off to break up the splashes and giggles, only to be splashed himself.

Kaede and Kouta sat in the back seat of the small bus, Nana and Mayu had both nodded off in the seat in front of them.  
"I didn't forget what you said." He said quietly into her ear.  
"Huh?"  
"I couldn't replicate _the best day of your life_, but it wasn't too shabby was it?"

Kaede was touched by his gesture, all day her mind was filled with (for once) pleasant flash backs of her childhood.

She clutched her Kouta tighter and began to gently hum their song, Lilium.  
As usual, it had a soothing effect on Kouta and now that Kaede was cuddling with her fondest memory it seemed appropriate.

When they got home the girls rushed into Yuka's room, telling her all about their day at the zoo.

After they calmed down, and Kouta had them finish the dinner he started cooking (he decided now was a good time for Kaede to learn too) and went in to see Yuka.

"How's it going?"

She stirred in her bed.

"Yuka? Are you feeling better?"

"You've only known Nyu for a few weeks, what does she have that I don't?"

Kouta was taken by surprise at the small voice of Yuka.

"Yuka, look at this."  
He took the photo of them at the festival when they were children.

After some careful looking he saw what he was looking for.

"Look."  
He pointed to young Kaede.

Yuka was astounded.

"Nyu!? What was she doing there?"

"Remember the sad girl I told you about?"

After a ponder she remembered.

"Well that girl was 'Nyu'. Her real name is Kaede."

Yuka understood now, it was this 'Kaede' that made Kouta the person he was today.

"Why did Nana call her Lucy?"

"Before I tell you that I think Nana needs to tell her story just one more time…"  
He went to get Nana, when they both returned he said; "Nana, Yuka needs to know where you and Kaede came from, if you don't want to that's ok."  
"No, I can do it." Her normally sunny personality went grim.

First Kouta told her of how he met her, and what happened after that, and all that she had told him.  
Then Nana told the story of the facility as best she could, she was in tears by the end of it.

"Nana, I'm really sorry I asked you to do that…tomorrow, you can pick what ever you want to have for dinner."

She immediately brightened up; "REALLY? CAN I?"

She ran off shouting to Mayu that they were having ramen for dinner the next day (she tried it at the zoo and **loved **it.)

Yuka was stunned.

This girl had such a hard life…

Who was she to complain that Kouta loved her instead?  
In Yuka's mind, Kaede deserved Kouta's love more than she did.  
She felt ashamed to be jealous of the innocent Nyu.

Kouta sat and talked with Yuka until she fell asleep again.

When he left her room for dinner he was done washing his hands and going into the dining room when Kaede hugged him more enthusiastically than Nyu did.  
He wouldn't be surprised if she yelled; "HUG, KOUTA! HUG! NYU WANTS HUG!"

He was actually expecting the accustomed "Nyu likes Kouta!"

They both sat down and Mayu and Nana were wolfing their dinners down…  
Mayu was putting in a gallant effort, but she was way out of her league with Nana.

Kaede snatched up her bowl and downed the rice and beef down faster than Nana.

They all stopped in amazement at her speed.

When it was their bed time Mayu made an odd request.  
"Um…can Kaede-neechan tuck me in?"

Although surprised Kaede followed the two into their room to tuck them into bed.  
"Nee-chan?"  
She felt odd being called that.

"Yes?"  
"Can you sing us a song? You have a pretty voice!"  
Kaede though for a second.

"Wait here."  
She walked out of their room, leaving a puzzled Mayu and Nana.

She returned with a small wooden box.

"What's that?"

With a small smile Kaede opened the box, and the tune began to play.

The girls were quiet, and Kaede began to hum along with it.

Soon enough, the two younger girls fell asleep, Kaede didn't notice Kouta standing in the door smiling at her display of kindness, sharing her treasured music box with the two.

He gently picked up Kaede who was nodding off on her own and walked her off to bed.

**HUZZAH!!  
wow the ideas for this story are coming to me really easily!  
I'll update SOON.**

**Real soon, **

**Thanks to all who are reading  
bigger thanks to those that took the time to review!**


	3. Chapter 3

"We don't need Lucy."

"But…BUT SIR! She poses a great danger to all those around her!"

"No, she will not."

"What!?"

With a smirk he said  
"We have all the data we need as to how Lucy can breed, the bridge incident gave us all the answers we've been looking for."

"Do you mean to say you've been able to **create **a Diclonius?"

"Perhaps."  
The scientist looked very uneasy with this news…  
"But what about the Facility? Will it be closed down?"  
"In time. It has served it's purpose."

"But there's still so much we don't know about the Diclonii!"

"That might be so, but we've instilled a hatred of humanity in them, and now we have their genes. We shall release them when we have completed the Airborne Diclonius Virus, to be certain humanity WILL progress."

"WHAT!? SIR THIS IS MADNESS!" He was shocked that the all the facility had done was under the will of the man in front of him.

The unlucky scientist felt several invisible hands lift him by the throat.

"No, this is _**evolution.**_"

The man's head suddenly exploded in a shower of crimson.

The silver haired man removed his wig.

It was itchy.

He pressed a button to message his secretary:

"Issue orders to withdraw all teams searching for either Lucy or Bando, they are insignificant and shall distract from the task at hand that is all."

He sat in his chair with a grin.

Things were finally going to plan.

The next few weeks at the Inn were pleasant ones, with Kouta and Yuka both working at their holiday jobs, Mayu, Nana and Kaede spent a lot of time together.

Kaede got up to start breakfast.  
She found she was becoming quite the chef, Nana begged her to make lunch all the time.

She was laying the table when a roar of joy from the girl's room had Kaede curious…

She went into their room to find Nana at the window jumping up and down pointing at the white snow that covered the yard.

Mayu was slow to start, demanding Nana be quiet, but when she registered that it had been snowing, she leapt up shoving Nana out of the way of the window.  
With a gasp and exclamation that it was 'super amazing' she immediately began putting on warmer clothes over her pajamas and rushed outside with Nana in tow.

After a 3 man riot in the yard, they brought Wanta in for some hot food too.

The rest of the day they worked as a team to clear out the gutters on the roof of snow, and sweep of the paths clear of snow.  
Mayu was thinking that school was much less work than this.

Each day when Kouta would return home, Kaede would wait in ambush for him, and knock him to the ground with a savage cuddle and flurry of kisses.  
It astonished Mayu how much they missed each other from just being apart for the day.

"Nana?" Mayu asked timidly.

"Mmm?" she heard the reply from the other bed.

"You know what…what Nee-Chan and Kouta do when he gets home?"  
"Yeah?"  
"Do you...do you think it's nice?"

"What do you mean, Mayu-Chan?" Nana was curious now…

"Well…how they hug and kiss…it seems…nice."

"Yeah…I suppose so! Do you think…maybe Nana should cuddle you when you get home from school?"

"Mmm! That sounds nice! I always look forward to coming home and teaching you what I learnt that day!"  
"Okay! We'll be like Kouta and Nee-Chan!"

With a small yawn Nana concluded; "Yosh, we'll be like...them…" she nodded off in mid sentence.

The next Saturday While Yuka was humming to herself in the kitchen, there was a knock at their door.

Kouta was the first to answer it and took a few steps backward in shock.

"Kouta what's the-"

On their porch was a grinning Bando in a wheel chair, aided by a young man and woman in white care takers uniforms.

"Bando-san I don't think it's polite to-"  
"Fuck up four eyes." He simply told the male nurse.

He caught side of Kaede huddled behind Kouta.

"YOU! YOU BITCH! YOUR FUCKING DEAD!"

He drew out the Desert Eagle he had concealed in the chair with him.

Suddenly it flew out of his hand.  
Nana and Mayu had heard the shouts of Bando while playing in the yard and came around to investigate.

The hovering gun suddenly crunched into a wafer of twisted and chewed metal.

"Nee-Chan is none of those things." Nana said calmly, her voice dripping with venom.

"Papa told me to be a good girl and not fight. I think killing a bad man like you would be something a good girl does."

"_FUCK. Since when did the little one and Lucy team up? SHIT."  
_

The male and female nurse immediately held hands for comfort; never having seen an enraged Diclonius, Nana was scaring the shit out of them.

"You monsters will die, it might not be me, or the next guy, but some one **will **take you down, you fucking bitch."

Kouta had enough of the wrongful persecution against Kaede. 

"Excuse me, sir?"  
"What do you want, poof?"  
"Could you please leave? You are disrupting lunch."

With a chuckle Bando asked;"What're you going to do? I might be a cripple but I can still kick your ass!"

Then something nobody present had ever seen happened:  
Kouta got _**mad**_.

He suddenly was upon Bando, lifting him by the throat.

"WHY!? WHY CAN'T YOU PEOPLE FUCK OFF? YOU'RE THE MONSTERS! HASN'T SHE AND ALL THE OTHERS SUFFERED ENOUGH!?!" Kouta finished it with a howl, hurling the broken Bando out of his wheel chair and onto the ground.

He turned around and quietly apologized to Bando's caretakers and gave the boy money to take his female partner out to some lunch.

The two worked to right Bando in his wheel chair once more, Bando was unconscious and bleeding from the forehead.

They silently wheeled Bando from the Inn.

Kouta quietly apologized to everybody and quietly went inside, mumbling about 'not wanting lunch to spoil'.

The 4 girls just stood there in silence.

Nana was the first to rush inside. (Only because Kouta called that lunch was ready.)

After lunch Yuka took the girls shopping for some new shoes.

(The government gave them money each month to look after Mayu, so they happily paid a little extra to give Nana nice things too.)

Kaede sat looking at the floor, she knew Kouta loved her, but still felt bad, that even if she killed so many, he still saw her as the timid, shy and sad girl of his childhood.

"Kouta?"  
"Hmm, Kaede-chan?"

"I killed all those innocent people…  
Kouta's face went grim.

"Kaede,"  
She looked up at him.

"You're not a monster."

She didn't understand.

"It's we, humanity that are the monsters."

Kaede really didn't understand now.

"We…did all those horrible things to you and your kind, I even lied to you about the festival!"  
"But Kouta! It was to protect me…"  
"But still, Kaede. I should have brought you anyway." Kouta said with great shame in his voice.

"Kouta…it's…You forgave me, why do you think I am the one that needs to forgive you now!? If you want my forgiveness it's yours Kouta!" She lent forward toward him with tears forming in her eyes.  
"I'd do anything…" she added quietly.

She felt Kouta's warm embrace.

Kouta felt Kaede hug him back, and then he felt more arms around him.  
Kouta guessed hugging another with their vectors was a very important gesture amongst Diclonii.

Yuka told him that Nana had given her such a hug before, as had Mayu, Mayu even dubbed it a 'special Nana Super Cuddle' that could only be done by Nana as she had 'special Nana Super Arms'.

They remained like that for ages.  
Kouta looked into her eyes and asked; "Would you like some tea? I go could for some right now…"

And so they had tea, the girls and Yuka returned, Mayu and Nana charged in to wave their new foot wear under Kouta's nose in celebration.

Yuka looked **tired **from having Nana and Mayu drag her around town all afternoon.

'Hmm, looks like Kaede and I shall cook today." Kouta said in his 'clever' pose (His hand on his chin with a smirk smile and his eyes closed to reflect deep thought.)

Yuka slumped down, and mumbled her deep thanks to Kouta and Kaede, while Kouta poured her some tea.

That night in her bed, Kaede looked over at the small hill of Kouta in his bed, and decided that she had a good life now; she looked forward to each new day.

Kouta was constantly turning over and rolling around in his sleep.

With a knowing smile Kaede slipped into his bed to keep him company.

She knew Kouta was the one she'd spend the rest of her days with, that she'd do all in her power to ensure Nana and Mayu's lives were what she always wanted for herself.

She cuddled up closer to Kouta, and also decided than despite her appearance and vectors, she really was, human after all.

_**FINALLY!! **_** Its done, I cant believe it, I did it**

**I hope who ever reads this enjoys, this last chapter had me really stumped for ideas.**

**I think it was a little short at the end..**


End file.
